Monday, February 19, 2007

The Dirt on Ethelbert

On Jan. 18, 2007, the final question on the game show Jeopardy was...

A: The middle initial E. of this character introduced in 1949 stands for Ethelbert.Q: Who is Wile E. Coyote?

Ever wonder where the heck this "fact" came from? It wasn't from a cartoon or anything revealed by Chuck Jones later in life. No, it came from a single 1973 Looney Tunes comic book story. Below you can see the infamous artwork for yourself.

I really doubt this was ever intended to be the character's "official" middle name but thanks to Jeopardy, I am sure this "fact" will be popping up for years to come.

I remember a comic in which Sylvester explained that he says "Sufferin' Succotash" in rememberance of his Uncle Succotash, the great wild game hunter. Will Jeopardy add that to the canon as well?

I always liked the answer I heard from Chuck Jones in the late '80's. The E in Wile E. Coyote stands for the same thing that Ulysses S. Grant claimed the S stood for. To quote Grant: "In mine you know it does not stand for anything."